One Letter
by Senden Villeneuve
Summary: Minato Namikaze left a letter for Kakashi, The Third Hokage, and Jiraiya to read. This letter outlays a plan for them to play out, which will help Kakashi Hatake become the man that Minato believes he can be. Naruto grows up as a secret Jinchuriki, with a family that loves him. Hokage!Kakashi
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Kakashi was a very different person before the Kyuubi attack. Cold, indifferent, and an outstanding model shinobi, he was trained since a young age to be one of the best shinobi in the world. His father was one of the best shinobi in the world. Kakashi was a high A class ninja himself, but after his father's suicide when he was only 5 years old, Kakashi became the man he would be until after the Kyuubi attack.

He was deemed too indifferent, and too anti-social by the Third Hokage, so he was removed from the ANBU program, and placed on a standard ninja team with two genin that were his same age, and a sensei, Minato Namikaze, the personal student of Jiraiya of the Sannin.

Minato and Obito, one of his team mates, were very out spoken and charismatic people, their vibrant personalities were hoped to bring some of Kakashi's suppressed emotions out of his self-created shell of isolation. For the first half of a year, these attempts failed, and Kakashi remained just as indifferent, though he highly idolized Minato, who had taken a near father role to Kakashi.

After the first seven months on the team, Obito began to crack into Kakashi's shell, even though he and Kakashi were unaware of it. Obito's previously annoying and needless childish behaviors became the high-light of Kakashi's previously alone life. Kakashi never verbally accepted Obito, but they were close, and after nearly two years on the team, they were very close.

Still not verbally accepting of each other, it was the third teammate, Rin Inuzuka who was a bridge to everyone on the team. She often vied for the affection of Kakashi, as she was smitten by his cool and distant personality. However, Obito had very strong affection for Rin, though her sights stayed on Kakashi through all of Obito's attempts to begin a relationship.

Kakashi was however, completely against the idea of a relationship, as it would too greatly distract him from his duty. And although never said, he also did not want to continue the disgraced Hatake name, because of the shame he still felt for his father's Seppuku.

Then it was during the Third Shinobi War, as their sensei gained fame, that they were sent on a mission that Obito and Rin were unprepared for. While Kakashi was at a high jounin-A level, and Minato was a still growing S-Class shinobi, so as a team, they were sent on a high-priority mission to destroy a highly defended bridge.

Upon engaging the hostile enemy nin, Minato led a large percentage of the forces away from the bridge, leaving Kakashi and his chuunin level teammates to destroy the bridge and defeat the remaining force. Minato told Kakashi to protect his teammates at all costs, and to abandon the mission if he could not protect them and complete the mission.

But as Kakashi evaluated the remaining nin, he knew that he could not keep his teammates safe and complete the mission. He made a decision, to not be disgraced like his father was, and disregarding his teammate's safety, he continued on with the mission.

In the end of the following three hours, Kakashi lost an eye to one of the defending shinobi, Rin had vanished after being forced away from Obito and Kakashi, and Obito lay dying at Kakashi's feet, stabbed through the liver, Obito was hours away from death, and with Rin, the team medic ninja MIA, there was no saving him.

Obito and Kakashi both accepted this, and resolved to make one final act of friendship to Kakashi, Obito gave Kakashi one of his eyes, a Sharingan eye, to replace the one that was lost as Kakashi had tried to defend Obito, after he realized he cared more for his teammate's safety than the mission.

That realization came too late for Kakashi to do anything, and although he completed the mission and destroyed the bridge, when he went to the rendezvous alone, and had to tell Minato that both Obito and Rin were dead, it crushed both of them.

In the following two years, Kakashi latched onto Minato as a life line to keep him sane. He never realized how much Rin and Obito had meant to him, and losing them both cut him nearly as hard as losing his father had. He found himself lost in the world again, and it was only Minato that helped him, for the most part, remain sane.

Then at the end of that time, when Kakashi's life revolved around training with Minato and wasting away the rest of his time visiting Obito's inscription on the Konoha Heroes Monument, the Kyuubi attack happened, and the thin shambles that were Kakashi's life were destroyed.

He would awake the next morning to relive the fact that his sensei, the Hokage, his father figure, the center of his life was dead. His purpose in life was all but gone, and there was nothing left for him to live for. Other than his training as a ninja, he had nothing.

It was then that Kakashi had the idea that maybe he should throw his life back into the ANBU system, it would keep him occupied and keep his mind from lingering on the worst things in his life. That is, until Hiruzen Sarutobi, the reinstated Third Hokage, arrived at his apartment with a letter, addressed to him, Hiruzen and Jiraiya, from Minato.

There were a few facts that Kakashi became privy to from this letter that changed everything. Minato had a son, Naruto Uzumaki, who was born from his wife Kushina, who Kakashi knew nothing about. Kushina had also died during the attack, and knowing that the Kyuubi would otherwise destroy the village, Minato sealed the Kyuubi in his son, Naruto.

There were a few requests that Minato had made, knowing that his death was imminent. They were listed on the sheet of paper as follows:

_To Jiraiya_

_You were like a father to me, Jiraiya-sensei. I will forever thank you for what you taught me, and the lessons you drilled into my head that made me who I was, and the leader that the village needed so badly. It was you who saw the potential I had, and helped me become the leader of the greatest nation in the world. You picked me over you own teammate for the Hokage seat, and while we can look back in Hindsight to know that it was probably for the best, you believed in me enough to choose me._

_To Hiruzen_

_I am sad to say that once again, you will be taking the Hokage robes and putting them on at the start of a new day, not me. As part of my last act as Hokage, I temporarily reinstate you as Hokage. I am thankful to you, for choosing to believe in Jiraiya-sensei's judgment, to name me your successor to the Hokage seat. It was intimidating to me at the time to try and step into the role that you had so amazingly played in Konoha for such a long time, but as you told me frequently, I did a fantastic job myself, for the short time that I have been the Hokage. _

_To Kakashi_

_You are an amazing man Kakashi. You have gone through more than any person could ever be asked of, and with my death, I know that it will be hard for you to continue on. But knowing this, I make a request of you; my final act as Hokage. I name you to be my successor as Hokage. Sarutobi Hiruzen will act as temporary Hokage until it is deemed by him and the council that you are fit to enter the office yourself. _

_I know that you visit Obito's memorial every day; that has to stop. You know over a thousand techniques, yet you have never applied yourself to your training since Obito's passing. I command you to take on a dedicated training schedule for at least the next year, where you spend every moment of your time, 6 days a week, training. You are so close to reaching S-Class level, yet you stop as if something is holding you back. _

_Use your ANBU training, use the training I have given you, and become the shinobi and man that I know you can become. It was my intention, before this whole situation has come to pass, to name you my successor in a few years of more training, and hopefully socializing. You have few friends Kakashi, you will need to change that, and become a positive face for all of Konoha to rally behind. _

Hiruzen had been reading the letter aloud to Kakashi, and the "hidden" Jiraiya who stood in a corner of Kakashi's apartment, while Kakashi and Hiruzen sat in chairs facing each other. Hiruzen looked cautiously at Kakashi, trying to gauge the reaction that Kakashi had gotten from the news. But Kakashi's ANBU training worked well, and all of his emotions remained hidden to Hiruzen.

Looking back down to the letter, Hiruzen continued,

_To the three of you, I leave the responsibility of Naruto, my son. I have many enemies, and as such he should retain the Uzumaki name, as even though it could still attract attention, it is unlikely that any would be even remotely as likely to hurt an Uzumaki, than my son. _

_As he is an Uzumaki, the Kyuubi had to be sealed inside of him, as much as it breaks my heart to do so to him. The life of Jinchuriki is solitary and harsh, and I will not have my son grow up in that environment. The Kyuubi being sealed into Naruto, and the fact he is my son, will HAVE to remain a secret, only you three can know. I want Naruto to be raised in a family, yet it would raise too many flags to have either three of you raise Naruto._

_As such, I want Naruto to be raised by his only known relative, Kushina's cousin Eiza Uzumaki. She resides in Mizu no Kuni as far as me or Kushina know, and she is a close friend to Kushina. However, it will difficult to convince her to move to Konoha, due to her involvement in the on-going civil war in the country. _

_This is how I want Kakashi to begin to make a name for himself. I wish for Konoha to make attempts at negotiating a strong alliance with the revolting faction, headed by Mei Terumi. The Yondaime Mizukage has been persecuting anyone with a blood line in Mizu, and a civil war has begun to remove him from power. _

_The war could continue on for years, however I want Kakashi to publically provide aid to the faction, and make a big name for himself as a civil rights activist, which will win him a lot of support from the civilian council. If he could play it off to Mei Terumi that he convinced Konoha to aid their effort, it could win Kakashi the favor of the future Mizukage, which would aid him largely in gaining support from the shinobi council._

_If played correctly, it will turn Kakashi into a social, and military hero for Konoha, while giving Konoha a strong alliance with Mizugakure. This should help convince Eiza to move to Konoha to raise Naruto, and it will make Kakashi the logical choice for Hiruzen's successor in the eyes of the village. I am putting a lot of faith in you three, because I sacrifice my life today believing that in a few years, Kakashi will continue the work that I cannot complete._

Author's Note

So hello, hopefully someone will read this. This is something that I have been thinking of writing for years, and I am only just now getting around to it. Kakashi was a wreck in canon. Destroyed mentally by the death of everyone he ever let become close to him, Kakashi achieved much less than he could have. With guidance from the last words of his sensei, Kakashi, Hiruzen and Jiraiya are setting a conspiracy in motion to make Kakashi the Godaime Hokage. I believe that if Kakashi had not returned to ANBU after the Kyuubi attack in canon, he could have continued training to become an S rank shinobi. With over a thousand jutsu, a Sharingan and elite level training, Kakashi should have been an S rank shinobi, instead his destroyed mental state drove him back into ANBU. I think that with one simple letter, Kakashi could have become a man of equal battle prowess as Minato, and he would make a great Hokage.n outstanding model shinobi. trained old,


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

It was not even two months later that Kakashi was already in Mizu, seeking out Mei Terumi and her band of "revolutionists." Jiraiya did the job of contacting her, and receiving permission for Kakashi to be sent with an ANBU task force into Mizu.

Back in Konoha, Hiruzen did the official signing of documents to authorize it all, and publicized the expedition of a Konoha task force aiding the efforts in Mizu for complete civil rights in Mizu, and the removal of the discriminatory Mizukage, Yagura.

Already well recognized in Konoha as the son of The White Fang, and as the apprentice of Minato, his new exploits as an equal rights activist brought Kakashi to almost worship levels from many of the civilians in Konoha. There were many who grieved the loss of Minato Namikaze, and to hear that his student was continuing the work of Minato was exactly the thing they needed to get past the grievances of the attack itself.

Meanwhile, until Kushina's cousin Eiza could be brought to Konoha, Hiruzen placed Naruto into the care of his son Jira and his wife Ima. It crossed Hiruzen's mind to raise Naruto directly, but even though he never showed it, or spoke to anyone about it, the death of his wife Biwako hurt him more deeply than he let show to anyone. She had died during the Kyuubi attack, and sleeping alone in bed was hard for Sarutobi to do again after so long with Biwako.

His son Jira was grieving just as much as he was, so it was left largely to Ima to raise Naruto for the time being. That was, if Eiza ever did decide to leave Mizu to raise Naruto. That situation was still up in the air, and if it came down to it, Hiruzen thought that it would be a fine fit for Naruto to stay with his son and daughter-in-law, they had actually been thinking of having a child.

Hiruzen sat in the Hokage's office, staring blankly down at a paper on his desk, 'Minato has laid out a lot of work for me and Jiraiya to do, to get Kakashi ready to be Hokage. I just hope I don't have to be in the chair for more than two years, and that Kakashi can repair his mind from all the damage that has been done to it. He has virtually no one left in the world but himself with everyone that was close to him dead. Minato was everything for Kakashi after Sakumo's death, hopefully he can find someone else to help him through this time now.'

***In Mizu***

It had taken nearly a month and a half to get permission to go to Mizu, and after another two weeks of travel with an ANBU squad that he was head of, they had finally gotten to the rendezvous point that had been arranged by Jiraiya, Hiruzen and Mei. The problem was, as Kakashi and his team waited for their contacts, no one came.

Kakashi felt out of place, dressed in the traditional ANBU gear minus the mask, his three teammates all had masks. He knew them all personally, and trusted them each with his life. "This is too suspicious, they should have been here by now. Either something is going down, and they can't show, or we are setup. Either way we shouldn't stick around much longer."

Tenzou, a man even younger than Kakashi stepped forward, "It is very unsafe to remain here in this clearing any longer. Since the Mizu Revolutionists have failed to make contact, it is our mission directive to return to our FOB and contact Jiraiya-sama and await orders."

Kakashi looked around for a few seconds with his Sharingan activated, "Tenzou, Yugao and Kage, we cannot actually do that. There is more at work here than just aiding the revolutionaries. We are actually here under decree of The Yondaime. He left an order to me and The Sandaime that I am to be named as his successor to Hokage, and that The Sandaime will only hold the Hokage seat until he declares I am ready."

All three barely seemed to move as they processed the information, though Yugao spoke up first, "So this means that this really is little more than a political undertaking? That is why The Sandaime has been so public about our involvement here in Mizu, under your beliefs of course. This must be to simply gain you more fame as a shinobi, with the battle prowess displayed during the Third War, this would completely solidify your claim to be the next Hokage."

Kakashi nodded, "Yes but only you three, The Sandaime himself and Jiraiya of the Sannin know about this. It will be brought to the council in a year, and within two years I should be the Hokage of Konoha. Minato-sensei believed that within two years of training I can reach S-Rank status, and he knew that with the political support I will gain if we are successful in aiding Mizu, it would seem that I myself established an alliance with another shinobi village."

Tenzou spoke again, "But Kakashi-sempai, do you wish to become the Hokage? While no one could doubt, that as the son of The White Fang, and student of Minato Namikaze, you are qualified, but is it what you want?"

The question hung unanswered in the air for several moments before Kage broke the silence, "There are several high level ninja approaching, I will scout out the incoming shinobi". In an instant Kage was gone, melding into the shadows of the late dusk light, showing off why exactly his code name was kage.

Kakashi, Tenzou and Yugao waited apprehensively on full alert for Kage to return. It was only a short 45 seconds that Kage was gone, but sure enough he reappeared at Kakashi's side.

"There is a team of over a dozen Mizu shinobi approaching our location. From the assurance in their movement, they know that we are here. Tactical evaluation preludes that we prepare for hostile contact."

It took Kakashi a second to adjust to Kage's completely unemotional evaluation of the situation, how systematic that he was. This was why he thanked Minato-sensei every day for removing him from the ANBU program all those years ago, and why he was glad that even after his death he kept him from going back into ANBU.

The team dispersed around the clearing, setting themselves up on the opposite side as the approaching unknown force. They only had to wait for a few seconds before the Mizu shinobi entered the clearing, all looking fully prepared for battle.

Kakashi scanned the group quickly. He was told by Jiraiya that he would meet up with one of two people, either Mei Terumi's second in command Ao, or the only remaining member of the Seven Swordsman who was on their side, Chojuro.

Neither one of those men were in this group.

A man stepped forward in front of the rest of the group, declaring, "I am Raizen Ronen, advocate for Yagura-sama himself. I am here to request that your group either come with us, or we will remove you from Mizu country ourselves, even if we have to kill you. Please reveal yourselves so we may further your cooperation."

A twisted smirk was on Raizen's face, even as Kage's blade separated his head from his shoulders. In a flash, the skirmish had begun, and in another it was over. Four out of the dozen had been killed by Kage's silent assassination, while Tenzou had used his Mokuton release to restrain eight more before they could move. Kakashi and Yugao did the rest, each having pulled out their respective blades, and beheading the men only seconds after they attempted to resist.

Kakashi quickly put his sword away, as did Yugao and Kage, while they all moved over to the four men that had been taken captive by Tenzou's Mokuton. Kakashi stood before the group, as the leader of the team it was his responsibility to interrogate them.

Being direct, Kakashi demanded, "How did you know where we would be?" Kakashi's question was followed by a swift back hand coming across one of the faces of the captive Mizu nin.

In response, the Mizu nin spat in Kakashi's face, doing little other than to annoy Kakashi, "Go fuck yourself Tree Hugger." His voice was laced with venom, "This is a Mizu war, and you should not be here to interfere! Mei herself gave the information on where you would be to Yagura, even she doesn't want you here!"

Kakashi seemed to nod his head as he began to put the puzzle together. Swiftly, he pulled his katana back out and slit the throats of the four remaining men. Sliding his sword back into its sheath, he turned away from the bodies and began to move at a swift pace, jumping into the trees.

Questioningly, the three ANBU shared glances at each other before they moved to follow their leader. Yugao spoke first after they had caught up, "Kakashi-sempai, why did you kill those hostages? If Mei really did betray us, would it not have been best to glean whatever information we could from them? I would think that she would have had to have high incentive to deny our assistance."

Kakashi spoke without turning to face them as he continued pushing on at a high pace, "Mei would not have turned down the help of us, she has been open in asking that we establish diplomatic relations with her faction, and when it comes down to it, she knows she could use our help. No, this was a test to see what kind of aid it was that Konoha had sent."

Kage spoke up, "She wished to see if we were strong enough to be a valuable asset to her war effort, and not just a political move. It makes sense militarily because I do not believe she knows who was sent to aid her."

Kakashi nodded, "But even if we had failed her test and died at the rendezvous, she had plausible deniability that Yagura's troops had simply beat her group to us, and killed us before they could arrive to help us. Undoubtedly, she is nearby in either event, to either welcome our help or mop up whatever was left of that task force that Yagura had sent out to deal with us. Either way she knows that Yagura will lose a task force, because any aid from Konoha is a huge threat to him, if Konoha as a whole aided Mei's forces, he would stand no chance, so he would have to try and stop us no matter what."

"But Kakashi-sempai, if Mei would in fact is nearby, why are we moving away from the rendezvous point?" Yugao saw the logic in Kakashi's deducing, and to her it made sense, but his decision to up and leave confused her.

Kakashi stopped to turn and face her, "Because I could be wrong, and Mei doesn't want our help. If that is the case, then I will not wait around for her to find us and potentially try to kill us. We will return to Jiraiya and hope he can still establish another meeting. No matter what, we cannot risk any conflict with Mei if Jiraiya is not there, I may be close to S-Rank but I would be no match for Mei Terumi."

The team all nodded and they all picked up their pace to meet up with Jiraiya at the emergency rendezvous.

Author's Note

Well first off, I want to say thank you to the people who reviewed, all I received was positive feedback, and I got nearly 200 views as well, and it hasn't even been 24 hours yet! Let me know if you spot any grammatical errors, as I do not have a beta reader. Also, I am wondering if anyone has heard of or read a story that is similar to mine?

I have never once found a Kakashi centric story that focused on him taking a different path after the Kyuubi attack. I have always thought that Kakashi was such a crappy personality in canon. With so much to live for, he dwells constantly in the past and threw away what he could have done with his life. Hopefully my conception of Kakashi won't be too bad, though he will be OOC and be quite a bit different from canon Kakashi.

Kakashi had so much more potential than what he ever did in canon. In this story you will see him utilize something that made his father famous, and, while this may be open to a lot of criticism, Kakashi might learn a certain technique that made his sensei famous as well.


	3. Sorry

I am really sorry to say what I have to say right now. I broke all four of my fingers about nine days ago in horrible parkour accident and I am not going to be able to write for like 10 months. I have a cast on my hand and I am not allowed to type anything. I considered having my friend write it for me, but he was not okay with that. I can't type with just my left hand, as it is my off hand, and it took me about 45 minutes to type only 300 words, and as it is, my friend is typing this right now. I am sorry for those of you who wanted my stories continued, and especially to those who were looking forward to seeing Drop Your Mask continued, as it got 4,500 views on my profile, and on NBHigham's profile I learned it had over 55,000 views. I apologize, it is kinda my fault for trying something new when my friend told me I shouldn't, but it is what it is. I apologize for wasting all of your guys' time.


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